


Clear As Mud

by doctorhelena



Series: The Best That We Can Do [2]
Category: Captain America (Movies)
Genre: F/M, Howling Commandos - Freeform, Steggy Positivity Week 2018
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-22
Updated: 2018-07-22
Packaged: 2019-06-14 09:08:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,003
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15385470
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/doctorhelena/pseuds/doctorhelena
Summary: The Commandos were more observant than one would wish, sometimes.





	Clear As Mud

**Author's Note:**

  * For [GeekyNerdDemon](https://archiveofourown.org/users/GeekyNerdDemon/gifts).



> This was written for Day 7 of Steggy Positivity Week 2018 (Free Choice), and for GeekyNerdDemon, who asked for the story behind a certain line in my Agent Carter story [“The Best That We Can Do”](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13584909) (but you don't have to read that story to understand this one).

It was only that morning, while glancing over the mission briefing one last time, that Peggy noticed the date. It was rather easy to lose track out in the field, and it had been a long, cold winter. At least they were finally far enough south that they’d be trudging through mud rather than snow. 

She allowed herself a wistful moment to imagine how she and Steve might be spending their Valentine’s days once all this was over, then put it out of her mind and got back to work. She’d never find out if they didn’t win the bloody thing.

She unfolded the map showing the advance scout’s best guess as to the layout of the Hydra facility, and spread it over the bonnet of one of the jeeps. Dernier and Morita finished packing up the last of their equipment, while Barnes threw mud over the evidence of last night’s fire. The cold rain had stopped sometime after midnight, and there was an invigorating freshness in the air. It smelled like spring.

“Right,” she said, as the three joined the others in a ragged semi-circle around the map. “Let’s review. Dugan and Morita will enter here,” she pointed, and they nodded. “Falsworth and Jones here, and Rogers and I will circle around to the back of the guard tower. Barnes, in the tree. Dernier, wait back at the jeeps with the radio and detonator. Fifteen minutes to plant the explosives and grab anything that looks interesting. Then clear the area, activate the transponders, and Dernier will set off a lovely fireworks display in honour of the day.”

Barnes grinned and elbowed Steve. “See, told you she’d remember. You should have gotten her something.”

Dugan shook his head. “You’re just lucky you’re so dreamy, Cap.”

Peggy rolled her eyes as she folded up the map. “All right, gentlemen. Ready to put another dent in Schmidt’s armour?”

There were murmurs of assent as they all piled into the jeeps.

******

“Were you expecting something for Valentine’s Day?” Steve asked, suddenly, as they circled behind the guard tower. “I didn’t think - ” Peggy held up her hand for quiet, listened, then motioned for him to follow her across a small clearing to the shelter of the trees beyond.

“To be honest, I’d quite forgotten the date until I looked at the mission briefing,” she said quietly, as they peered around the edge of a large branch, far enough away from the tower that the guard probably couldn’t hear them, but close enough that it didn’t hurt to be cautious. “Now!” she added as the guard briefly turned away, and Steve tossed his shield, hitting him neatly on the back of the shoulders and catching it easily on its return flight. The two of them sprinted over to where the man lay, out cold. Peggy relieved him of his weapon, then prodded him with her foot. “I don’t think he’ll give us any more trouble.”

Steve checked his watch. “Twelve minutes.”

Peggy nodded. “I expect the important files are kept underground.” This was a relatively minor base that was unlikely to reveal any important intelligence secrets, but it never hurt to take a quick look. From the advance scout’s report, the storage area was very close to the guard tower, and not terribly heavily guarded. Steve was able to take out two Hydra members with his shield while Peggy took out a third with her fists, and they were downstairs pulling out files with nine minutes to spare.

Peggy had discovered all sorts of unexpected benefits to Steve’s ability to move extremely quickly. Although some were rather private, others were quite useful on missions, such as the way he could rifle through files much faster than she could, tossing her any that he thought looked vaguely useful. She examined them quickly and tucked the truly promising ones into her bag, keeping an eye on the time. “All right,” she said, at the three minute mark. “Time to go.” He tossed her one last file and nodded, preceding her up the stairs, head cocked slightly to the side as he listened for signs of movement above.

Peggy tucked the last file into her bag without looking at it and followed him up the stairs, taking a moment to admire the way his uniform clung to his rear before reaching the top and pressing herself against his back, peering over his shoulder. “Clear!” he whispered, and she followed him at a sprint back to the guard tower.

The guard was just sitting up, blinking and rubbing his forehead, but came fully alert in an instant at the sight of Peggy and Steve. Steve dove forward to stop him from sounding the alarm, and the force of impact slid the two of them off the guard platform entirely and into the mud below. 

The guard had been winded by the collision, and Steve hooked a muddy elbow around his neck, counting to ten before releasing him, unconscious, onto the sodden ground. “If you’re quite finished,” said Peggy, tapping her foot, and Steve grinned at her as they slipped into the cover of the trees, moving at a fast jog until they were clear of the projected blast radius. 

Peggy pulled the radio transceiver from her belt, depressed the button to let Dernier know they were clear, then tucked it back into her bag with the files. “Rogers, you’re absolutely caked with mud. It’s rather lucky you saved your wrestling match for the way out, or the files would be completely unreadable.”

He grinned. “I try to do things in a logical order.”

She rolled her eyes. “You absolutely do not, my darling.” She reached up to wipe some of the mud off his face with the sleeve of her field jacket, then leaned in close to his ear. “But I suppose I’ll be your Valentine anyway.” She pressed her lips to the skin of his neck, and smiled at the tiny, pleased sound he made.

She knew he was leaving mud along the line of her jawbone as he gently grasped her chin and tilted her face up to his, but she couldn’t bring herself to care. As their lips brushed together in what she was certain they’d both intended to be a very brief kiss, the Hydra base exploded behind them, the initial blast followed by a series of smaller bangs as various stashes of ammunition and weapons were caught in overlapping waves of heat. Steve made an incoherent sound and pressed forward, kissing her again, far less gently this time.

Peggy shrugged her bag and rifle off her shoulder and set them blindly on the ground behind her, looping her arms urgently around his neck, biting at his lip. He reached down to grasp her rear with both hands, lifting her up and against him as she made a somewhat incoherent sound of her own. She trailed her lips across his flushed skin to his ear, down his jawline, and back to his mouth again before her brain caught up with the rest of her. 

“We - ” she took a shaky breath. “Steve. There isn’t time. We have to - ” 

“I know,” he said, just as breathless as she was, releasing her with a squeeze that she knew was a silent promise to continue where they’d left off at the earliest opportunity. Unfortunately, opportunities were vanishingly rare at the moment, but she did appreciate the thought. 

She had to use her other sleeve to wipe a good deal of lipstick off his face while he used the handkerchief from one of his inner pockets to wipe mud off hers, and then she hastily reapplied her lipstick and smoothed back her hair before they set off for the rendezvous point.

“Shall we discuss baseball statistics?” she asked, with a sidelong glance at him as they started off.

He grinned. “You know, it turns out the fastest way to kill the mood is to think about cricket. Learned it from Howard. Works like a charm, every time.” 

Peggy stuck her tongue out at him, and they dashed for the jeeps. 

******

Several hours later, well away from the remains of the base, they stopped for lunch in a clearing tucked away from view of the road. It wasn’t until they’d all stretched their legs and were digging through their K-rations that Peggy became aware of a rather sudden undercurrent of amusement running through the Commandos. “All right,” she said finally, looking up from her contemplation of the bland slabs of crispbread the Americans unaccountably called biscuits. “What’s the joke?”

Dugan cleared his throat. “That’s an interesting pattern of mud you have on your ass, Peg.” His lips twitched under his mustache. “Almost looks like a pair of handprints.” 

Peggy raised her eyebrows. “Does it? Well, they say the patterns one sees in random blotches say a good deal about one’s own psyche, Corporal.”

Morita snorted. “Nice try, Carter, but those are definitely handprints.” Jones and Dernier, mouths full, made assenting noises and nodded.

“Looks like Cap got you something special for Valentine’s Day after all,” added Dugan, unsuccessfully hiding his grin behind his thermos flask of coffee.

The tips of Steve’s ears were pink. “I had to boost her up, back at the base. To get a better look at - ”

Falsworth snorted. “Have you wondered why you never get assigned to undercover work, Captain? It’s because you’re a terrible liar.” Peggy sighed inwardly. He truly was.

“I think the real question,” said Bucky, clearly enjoying himself immensely, “is what the hell you two were up to when you were supposed to be stealing files.” He looked back and forth between them, sternly.

“The real question,” Peggy said, repressively, “is what on earth you were all doing staring at my arse in the first place.” She glared around at all of them, Steve included.

Dugan grinned. “Carter, those prints are probably visible from a surveillance plane at 30,000 feet.” He patted her shoulder consolingly. “You want help brushing them off before we get back to base? I’d say Cap should do it, but we wouldn’t want you two to get carried away.”

Peggy could feel a blush rising on her cheeks despite herself. “I can brush them off myself, thanks.” She cleared her throat, and looked at him seriously. “And I’ll thank you not to spread this around the camp. The compass in that newsreel was bad enough, but if Phillips - ”

Dugan turned serious too, immediately. “Of course we’ll keep quiet, Peg. Look, we might like to tease you a bit, but you’re one of us. And the Howling Commandos take care of our own.” The others all nodded.   


“Thank you,” she said, smiling around at them, feeling unaccountably touched.

Barnes poked her. “Don’t thank us yet, Agent Carter. Howard Stark is an honorary Commando, and I’m definitely telling  _ him _ .”

She closed her eyes for a second, then opened them and turned to Steve. “If you love me, you’ll give me your chocolate. I’m going to need it more than you are.”

He tossed it over without hesitation, then came and sat down beside her. She offered him a biscuit. “Well,” he said, taking it, “it’s not like Howard doesn’t already have strong suspicions about us.” She sighed and leaned into him, resting her head against his shoulder. He wrapped an arm around her and dropped a quick kiss onto the top of her head.

“Hey, let’s not get carried away,” said Morita, around a mouthful of biscuit. “We didn’t say you could get all lovey-dovey right in front of us.”

Jones sighed. “Give them an inch and they’ll take a mile.”

Peggy narrowed her eyes at them and slowly, deliberately, pulled Steve in by the strap on his chest and kissed him full on the lips. When she pulled back a moment later, Steve was looking rather pink, and the Commandos were all looking thoroughly disgusted, in a pleased sort of way.

“Happy Valentine’s Day,” said Peggy, and somehow she couldn’t stop smiling.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to [littlereyofsunlight](https://archiveofourown.org/users/littlereyofsunlight) for reading this over (and for generally being a supportive fic writing pal. :)


End file.
